The Core of Crisis: Rewrite
by reithedragonboy
Summary: It's the same story as my original version, just with better skill and technique behind it.  The summary will be in the first chapter for those of you who never read my original version of this before.
1. Prologue

Hello. For those of you who did not read the note before coming to this story and feeling like you've read this before, that's because this is a rewrite; a better version of the original.

Anyway, here's the summary of the story; a much better improvement to the original. Hope you like it! Please leave a review before you leave to another story.

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**Summary:** The Shinra Company is the highest power known to man on all of Gaia. They are known for their superb army and their scientific discoveries and breakthroughs known only to better the living of those who live on the planet. They are considered the pioneers of the new era of wealth and prosperity for the planet, one that has been so for the past few decades ever since their founding. It is with that in mind that the company has created a grand city to house this super power and keep under careful watch. It was built in record time, thanks to the company's great advances in technology, and was named Midgar, along with a sub-name tagged onto it, The City of Endless Dreams and Countless Possibilities.

That, however, is merely a farce; a facade that only the highest of the highest officials in the company can see through simply because they created it themselves. Dirty behind-the-scene dealings occur behind closed doors, and the public is never made aware of them. In turn, they are kept ignorant with the constant deliverance on promises of continued prosperity and protection by the company itself. As such, the dark side of the company hides within the public eye, cleverly concealed by a carefully woven veil of ignorance and deceit.

That carefully woven mantle, though, is threatening to be blown away and reveal to the entire world just what kind of business the Shinra Company is. It is through the one secret that only three people know of that will cause the fall of the "Golden Age of Prosperity," an age carved out of nothing but lies and carefully woven promises. It is through this one act of trying to extend the reach of their archaic might that they will finally be undone.

It all started on a day that was just as normal as any other day for the army the Shinra Company manned. Ever ignorant of what was happening right under their noses, they dutifully committed to their job, and that commitment was about to be repaid with utter tragedy and chaos raining down upon them.

Now, follow the story of how only a tiny splinter of this army survived through this raging storm of tragedy unleashed by countless years of deceit and greed. Watch as they fight to survive the effects of tainted power made real and discover the hidden truths about the company they so selflessly serve. See how they survive through one another and work their way through this hurricane of lies that is about to hit them on this very night, a night that starts out just like any other normal night within the Shinra Company Headquarter's walls...

Become witness to this tragedy and watch as the countless possibilities become severely numbered and the endless dreams stop and shatter along with the hopes of many who rely on such a tainted and corrupt power just to survive. And it all starts on a night just like any other; and it shall end on a night _unlike_ any other...

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Prologue**

"How much longer do you think they're going to make us wait here?" a spiky blond hair boy dressed in a blue shirt and pants uniform, just like the rest of the cadets in the room with him, softly asked his friend, whom he was standing at attention next to somewhere at the back part of the room. "We've been in here for almost an hour now and nothing's being done about this."

"I don't know, Cloud," the person, who had ebon black hair that was somewhat long and tied up into a ponytail at the back, replied in an equally soft whisper. "All I know is that somebody wanted almost all of the Shinra army staff, including any available 3rd to 1st Class SOLDIERs, which pretty much looks like all of them to me, gathered here in the assembly room. Apparently, it must be something really important that they want to talk about if they practically want the entire army here."

Both people looked to have been in their early to mid teens. They were practically at around the same height, but the blond looked slightly taller because of the way his spikes stood up and angled itself in odd directions. Both were skinny but had muscle visibly showing through their tight shirts; although the long haired teen looked a lot more muscular, as his muscles were clearly rippling through his shirt.

"Well, if they don't start soon, I'm going to sneak myself out of this place," the other cadet, whose name was Cloud, replied with crossed arms while tapping his boot-covered foot impatiently. "I mean, we're the closest ones to the door. It's practically right next to us. I doubt that they would even notice one cadet missing from all of this. That and all of this waiting is nothing short of ridiculous. You'd think that they would realize we have other things to be doing besides waiting for some person who doesn't even have the decency to come here on time like the rest of us."

"That's what you're saying now, but are you going be thinking the same thing when you get caught wandering the hallways?" the other person warned as he saw the blond starting to become slightly antsy. "I doubt you'll be singing the same tune when that ends up happening to you."

"Oh, come on, Adeus. I'm sure even you're thinking the same thing as I am here," the blond said in a teasing tone as he lightly elbowed his friend's ribs with his elbow. "Don't go denying it. Besides, they only said that this scientist of theirs named Hojo wants to tell us about a scientific breakthrough he's made. What does it have to do with us? Nothing, I tell you. He just probably wants to show off his intellect to us or something like that."

"I wouldn't say that it has completely nothing to do with us," Adeus said thoughtfully, although he did keep the possibility of what Cloud said rooted in the back of his mind. "It does seem weird, though, that he's asking for every person who's in the Shinra army. Does what this guy has to say really affect all of us?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Cloud answered with a small huff and a somewhat childish roll of his eyes. "I've already made up my mind, though. I'm not going to just stand around and listen to some scientist tell everybody that he's discovered something so extraordinary. If you ask me, he could have easily done the same thing by submitting an article in the Shinra newspaper."

"Wait, you're not seriously leaving, are you Cloud?" his friend asked in hushed shock as the blond started to casually make his way out of the open door, the action already fully answering his question.

"Well, why not?" the blond asked back as he neared the exit while trying to stay as casual as possible, a feat he found hard while talking to Adeus at the same time. "We're bound to figure out whatever this scientist had to say tomorrow morning. If it's that important, then everybody will be talking about it."

"Oh, you're unbelievable, you know that?"

"I know. And I'm guessing that's why you ended up finding a friend in me when we first met six months ago. So are you coming with me or not?"

"You really want me to go ditching this assembly with you?" Adeus asked in shock as he raised his eyebrows at the suggestion.

"Don't tell me you're actually planning on staying here just to listen to the scientific crap?"

"Uh, that kind of was the original plan here."

"Fine then, your loss of the widely sought for freedom that everybody wants. If this does happen to go long into the night and you have a hard time getting up tomorrow for morning training, though, don't come crying to me about it."

"What? You don't really think it'll last that long, now do you?"

"I don't know, Adeus, but I'm not sticking around to find out. See you tomorrow morning if you're not too out of it."

"W-wait a minute, Cloud!" Adeus whispered hastily as he walked as quickly and inconspicuously towards the door his friend just exited out through. "I've changed my mind! I'm going with you."

"I figured you were going to say that sooner or later," Cloud answered with a grin and a small chuckle as he saw the black haired teen sidle alongside the walls until he was out of the doorway with him. "You always try to do whatever it takes whenever it comes to the training stuff that we do."

"Of course I take them seriously," the ebon haired teen responded as he sighed out in relief at the fact that they did not get caught sneaking out, at least not yet. "Those are probably the only things that these people here look for when they're choosing who they want to have in SOLDIER. They only want to look for the strongest of the strong here, and I'm not going to let one missed training session get in the way of my chance at becoming a SOLDIER."

"Is that why you decided to take my lead and ditch the assembly?" the blond inquired with a playful smirk dancing on his lips.

"I…well, that's…, Oh, that doesn't have anything to do with it, Cloud!" the long haired teen stuttered out. "I just want to make sure I'm in top form when we have to do drills tomorrow, that's all. God, you're really starting to sound a lot like Zack with all your playful nagging, you know that? I think he's starting to rub off on you."

"Whatever you say, Adeus," Cloud said with a shrug as he led the way down the hall to the cadets' quarters where they both shared a room. "Now that you mention it, I wonder if he's going to be doing the same thing as we're doing."

"Even though he's a real playful guy, something that I find hard to believe since he's actually supposed to be a 1st Class SOLDIER, I figured that he came here simply because he had nothing else to do" Adeus said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "The announcement earlier did say for any _available_ 1st Class SOLDIERs to attend. I don't think he'd be here if he had something important to be doing."

"I guess you're right. It doesn't make sense that he'd come here and shirk his other duties, unless his other duties have to deal with filling out paperwork or other things like that," he added with another silent chuckle. "Then again, I wouldn't put it past him to come up with an excuse or two to get out this meeting. Either way, I bet you a hundred gil that he actually finds a way sneak out of there."

"Yeah, I guess we shouldn't put it past him to do something like that," the blond replied as the smile he had on his lips only grew wider. He had to rub the end of his nose a bit to keep himself from laughing out loud at the memories that were flooding through his head. "He does know how to use that puppy-dog look whenever he wants things to go his way. That and he's done crazier things before we even met him, or at least that's what he tells us. Anyway, let's hurry up and get to our rooms before one of the higher-ups catches us; then we'd really be in trouble."

And with that, the two of them continued on their way as stealthily as they could towards their rooms, hoping that none of the SOLDIERs or other personnel would catch and report them. If that happened, then they would be in so much trouble; they would prefer suffering through a boring meeting than suffer through punishment. Oh well, it was already too lat to change their minds. All they could do now was keep moving and hide from any higher-ups they see in their path.

-Meanwhile-

_Those two are either really daring or really stupid_, a raven haired SOLDIER 1st Class situated at the back of the platform where the podium was situated on thought as he looked at Cloud and Adeus trying to leave the assembly room unnoticed. _They're really lucky I managed to distract the other 1__st__ Class here or they would have been in a world of hurt by now._

"…And so… Hey, did you even hear a word I just said to you?" a man of the same hair color and looking to be somewhat older asked with an annoyed edge in his voice.

"Uh, what?" the raven haired man, who looked to be in his mid to late teens, replied dumbly as he diverted his attention to the man next to him. "Sorry, I kind of missed the last part."

"Oh honestly Zack, you better start paying more attention to things whenever someone's trying to talk to you," the man said with a sigh as he palmed his forehead lightly. "That kind of behavior is something that can easily get you in trouble with the president. I don't even understand now why I even decided to let you pass on to the 1st Class SOLDIER program."

Both men were of the same ranking, but the age difference, along with experience, clearly separated the two from each other. The teen looked to be taller than the other, but only by a little less than an inch or so. His hair was also pretty spiky and openly defied gravity without any kind of gel to help it, a complete opposite to the older man's visibly better tamed, yet slightly ruffled-looking, hair.

"Anyway, I asked if you were sure that you had finished all of your business before deciding to come here?" the man continued on with a small sigh escaping his lips, already knowing what the answer was going to be before he even had a chance to hear it.

"Uh, I'm sure I did, Angeal," the young teen answered as he thought it over, knowing full well in the back of his head the small pile of paperwork on his desk in his room. "Everything looks like it was done the last time I checked it out."

The other man, Angeal, seemed to know that and did not look the least bit surprised at hearing that the young SOLDIER, Zack, had finished all of his work already. He just thought he would let it play out, seeing as how he always found some kind of hidden amusement to the teen's antics.

"Oh, wait a minute; I think I did forget about something!" Zack exclaimed somewhat loudly, causing everybody inside the room to look at his direction with raised eyebrows. Apparently, he had forgotten that he was right now in an assembly room awaiting for the main man to arrive.

After mumbling an apology to both the crowds and others that were on the podium with him, all while scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion and ruffling his gravity-defying locks of spiky raven hair, he said in a softer tone, "There's still that report for the Turks that I haven' t finished yet. They said that they wanted it done two days from now, but I think Tseng's expecting it by tomorrow morning just so he can look over it for any mistakes I might have made. I still don't understand why he wants to treat me like a child sometimes."

"Oh, I think I can come up with a couple reasons why he's thinking like that" Angeal chuckled a bit, earning him a scowl from the teen. Whether he was laughing out of amusement at the face or at how he saw the young teen prove himself wrong again, the spiky haired teen did not know. "Well, if you think that you have to do it, then go ahead and do it. You don't have to stay here and listen to Professor Hojo talk about whatever it is he's decided to talk about."

"Oh, trust me, I'd rather be doing paperwork than to listen to that creepy old scientist run his mouth about something that practically nobody except the president himself cares about," Zack stated with a light groan leaving he back of his throat. "If you want me to be honest with you, I think he just likes to hear himself talk about his 'scientific breakthroughs' and all that other boring jazz."

"You keep talking like that about him and you'll find yourself in a lot of trouble," the older man warned as he suddenly gave off a knowing smile, one that usually signaled to Zack that he knew what he was up to and was going to be in some kind of trouble later. "Just like those two cadets that snuck out of the room while you were trying to take my attention away from them."

"Uh, what are you talking about, Angeal?" the teen asked, keeping his surprised feeling in careful check and trying to feign ignorance on the subject while pretending to look out in the crowd for said escapees. "Who did you say managed to get out of this hell…uh, meeting?"

"Oh, just cut the act, Zackary," the man said with a hint of amusement in his voice before letting it disappear and replacing it with seriousness. "You've been my student for so long; I can practically tell what you're doing before you even decide to do it. Before those two even left, I figured that they were going to pull something like that while you unconsciously help them."

"…Heh, nothing I do ever gets past you, does it?" Zack asked with a nervous half-grin plastered on his face.

"Fortunately for me, nothing does. Alright, I'll cut you a deal here, even though I'm not supposed to be doing that. If those two don't get caught going to wherever it is they're going to, I won't report you about your aid in their unauthorized leave. However, if they are caught, then I'll let Director Lazard know that you helped a couple of cadets leave the assembly room when they weren't supposed to."

"I hope that you're not going to make me promise to that and then just conveniently find them wandering the hallways, are you?" the teen asked, both eyebrows raising in suspicion at his comment. "Because if that's what you're thinking, then there's no way I'm falling for such a lowball trick like that."

"Where's the honor of making a promise, then, if that's what I had planned all along? Besides, I could just get you in trouble right now if I wanted to. I wouldn't need to go through all that trouble getting your hopes up just so I can punish you in the same way I should be doing now."

"…You know, that's a really good point you bring up there, Angeal," the teen stated with a sheepish grin. "Alright, if they don't get caught, you won't say anything about this to anyone."

"You better be thankful that I choose to put up with your childish antics every now and again," the older man sighed with a small shake of his head. "I, myself, honestly don't know why I do."

_Yeesh, I didn't think that I was that noticeable_, the teen thought with a frown as he clearly ignored the man next to him. _I really hope that Cloud and Adeus don't do something stupid and get themselves caught. If they do, then I'll personally give them hell the next time I see them for training_.

"Alright then, Angeal. I guess I better make my way back to my room now if I ever plan on finishing all that stupid paperwork for Tseng by tonight. I'll see you tomorrow, provided that I'm not fast asleep."

"Try not to get yourself sidetracked on your way there," the man said in a knowing tone. "And I do hope that you're not going to end up oversleeping tomorrow. I'm sure you remember what happened last time that happened."

"Hey, that was a one-time thing!" Zack answered with a huff as he walked off the podium and made his way to the exit nearest him. "If you're worried about anyone sleeping, direct that to yourself. Make sure you stay awake during this boring lecture. I'll probably ask you about it in case we have a meeting regarding this speech."

"I'm not your personal human recorder, Zack."

"I know, but I also know that you'll still end up helping me with that. Anyway, I got to get going now. See you tomorrow, Angeal!"

With a small wave of his hand, the young SOLDIER 1st Class got of the platform and made his way towards the nearest door. A few of the 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIERS and a couple of daring cadets looked at him as Zack softly hummed to himself as he pasted right by them. Apparently, he was happy that he found a way to get out of being here right now.

"Restless little pup," Angeal mumbled to himself with a roll of his eyes, but the smile on his lips showed that he was just as amused as the others. "Always managing to find some way to get out of listening to Hojo's speeches. Hopefully, he's not going to miss out on much this time around."


	2. The Start of a Nightmare

**Chapter 1: The Start of a Nightmare**

After managing to successfully escape the assembly room, Cloud and Adeus decided that it would be best if they hid in their rooms for the rest of the night. Thankfully, they both happened to be roommates, so it was not much of a problem for them to reach the barracks. The only real thing they had to worry about was running into any higher-ups along the way, something that they really wanted to avoid as much as possible lest they faced terrible punishment.

They had a close run-in with such a person and had nearly fainted at that. Thankfully for them, that ended up being no more than a false alarm; the person they had ran into was just a simple scientist who was transporting a stack of papers in his arms. When they explained what they were doing, more out of fright rather than the man demanding to know, he sympathized with the teens and promised to not report them and their antics. Apparently, he felt the same as they did about the assembly and walked away without saying another word.

With a great sigh of relief, the two continued on to their room, and that was where they currently were at now. Both were practically bored out of their minds and trying to find ways to make the time go faster. But, if possible, it just ended up feeling like it was moving even slower than when they were doing nothing.

"Do you think they're finished with that assembly yet, Adeus?" Cloud asked while laying on top of his bed in his and Adeus's room with some playing cards lying on the floor. They have taken to playing cards about an hour after they snuck out of the assembly room a couple of hours now. "I mean, I don't think it takes this long to talk about a breakthrough a scientist made. All they really need to do is talk about it for a couple of minutes and put an end to it, if you ask me."

"Maybe this particular one likes to bask in his own glory," Adeus suggested in a joking manner as he chuckled a bit. "I overheard from a couple of 2nd Class SOLDIERs out in the hallways before we entered the assembly hall that Professor Hojo, the one who organized the assembly, loves to make all of his scientific research and breakthroughs known all throughout Shinra. If he can do that, then there's no doubt that word of his findings will end up spanning the entire planet for all to hear and gossip about.

"They say that he's doing all this so he can one day become famous and just as recognized for his achievements like his predecessor, Professor Gast," he continued on as he threw the cards in his hand into the pile of discarded ones in front of him. "It sounds more like he only wants to brag about his work if you ask me. I mean, who goes through all this trouble these days just so they can tell people about a simple discovery that they managed to figure out?"

"Well, there's only two kinds of people who'd do that; crazy people and even crazier people," the blond replied with a mischievous grin as he got off the bed and started to gather all the cards together. "I never hear of SOLDIERs bragging about everything they did on their missions, so why should a scientist like him get the right to do so? That doesn't really sound a lot like proper etiquette, if you get what I'm saying?"

"Oh, I second that thought, man," the raven haired roommate agreed as he tossed a card box to his friend. "I promise you this; you won't be seeing me bragging on about what I do once I'm in SOLDIER. I don't know about you, though, seeing as how you told me that it's always been your dream to become a part of SOLDIER. You'd probably be too darn excited to even notice that you're bragging before you even realize it."

"Oh, trust me. If I ever start to brag about the things I've done and accomplished, it'll never be at the same magnitude as Professor Hojo making it out to be right now. I'd do it as discreetly as possible."

"How, by calling your parents back at home and talking for hours on end about every little detail from your first mission and how you managed to get you butt kicked by the enemy?"

"Oh, shut up Adeus," Cloud immediately sent a scowl at his buddy, although it ended up looking more like a pout instead. He then asked in an attempt to change the subject around, "What about you? Are you taking all this training stuff so seriously so that you can get all buffed out and impress all of the girls by showing off your six pack and flexing your biceps?"

"That's pretty much the idea," Adeus admitted happily with a dopey grin on his face. "If you're going to become strong through all this rigorous training just so you can get a spot as a 3rd Class SOLDIER, why not also try to do it so you can impress the ladies too? Get good strong muscles and become popular at the same time. It sounds like a definite win-win situation for me."

"If that's the case, then how about you also try making yourself mentally fit instead of just physically?" the blond suggested with a roll of his eyes as he set the small box now full of cards on a nightstand next to a simple table lamp. "If you keep that head of yours stuck in the gutter for too long, everything's going to pass by before you even know what's happening. You know that they want to test our knowledge in battle tactics alongside with our physical endurance, right?"

"Oh, I know that. What's the point, though, on studying things related to battle tactics if we're not even insured a spot in the 3rd Class SOLDIER program until after they viewed our performance and say that we passed the preliminaries? Unless they have a special division for cadets and grunts like us where we can be in the back lines barking out strategically sound tactics and opinions to the general or something like that, I don't really see much of a point for book-smarts."

"Have you ever thought of how it might be able to save your butt if you seriously take the time to at least a couple things from the books? Don't forget that a grunt's life is also at risk despite being around so many others that might be acting as your personal human shield. You might even have to end up improvising on some survival techniques just to survive."

"Hey, that might be a good idea, using a person as a human shield during a mission," Adeus responded, clearly ignoring the last thing that had left the blonde's lips as his eyes shown with an idiotic idea hiding behind it. "That might be a good way to save myself from getting shot or something like that."

At this remark, all Cloud could do was roll his eyes in annoyance at the crazy reply. He quickly waved his roommate off with a huff and made for the top of the bunk bed where he slept.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" the long raven haired teen proclaimed with humor echoing in his words, although Cloud failed to see the humor in such a comment. "I'm not that heartless to be using a live person as my shield. That'd really be stooping down to the lowest of all lows. Although, if the person was already dead to begin with, then I think that would have to be another story."

"Uh, I think that's even worse, Adeus," the blond sighed exasperatedly as he laid on his side, his back facing the wall that was connected to the bed. "The one thing that you should do for the dead is let them rest in peace, not having them become a personal shield just so they can take the bullets meant for you. That just sounds so wrong on many different levels."

"You keep thinking like that and you'll be dead in the battlefield, buddy," the teen replied as he sat down on the bottom bed. "Your morals, whether they be personal or not, should be thrown away when in battle, especially when things start to seriously heat up out there. You do whatever you have to do just so you can survive to see the light of another day. That's what normal human behavior usually dictates when in situations regarding a battlefield of sorts.

"Of course, I'm not saying that you should always be using dead people as protection!" he added quickly as he threw his hands up in a defensive manner as he received an ugly scowl from his buddy. "But if that's what you're going to have to do in order to save your skin, then just do it. Besides, it's not like the dead are going to be giving any complaints about it, right? After all, they're already as dead as they could be. A few extra bullets in them won't hurt."

"Okay, that last sentence just sounded totally wrong. I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that and remember the other stuff that you told me. Anyway, moving on to a less morbid topic…,"

Cloud never did get a chance to change the topic. This was because a terribly sharp and shrill sound suddenly made itself known and reached both his and Adeus's ears. Even with the protection of the walls and their metal door securely locked, it was still quite sharp that they both had to cover their ears. That obviously told them one thing; the walls and doors of this place were pretty thin.

The loud shriek probably lasted for a good five or so seconds before it finally died down and reverted back to silence once more. Hearing the now eerie silence, they both took their hands off of their ears and exchanged "What-the hell?" looks.

"…_Please_ tell me that noise came from you Adeus," the blond stated with a shaky voice as he put emphasis on the very first word. "If that was your idea of playing a scary joke on me, then I'll show you my version of a scary joke by killing you and feeding your bones to the dogs!"

"I-I swear Cloud; that wasn't me!" Adeus replied as he abruptly got back onto his feet and picked at his ears a bit in an attempt to get the ringing sensation out. "You know I don't usually play jokes like this on you. I think someone else out there's trying to play a joke on us."

"Well, that wasn't exactly a very good one!" he stated with an angry huff. "The person screaming sure had a good set of lungs in order to have pierced through the walls and the door with only his voice. Nearly gave me a damn good heart attack when I heard it!"

"Uh, do you think that maybe we should go outside and see what's going on?" the raven haired teen suggested with a shrug while nervously rubbing the back of his neck as Cloud hopped off from the top bunk without so much as making a sound. "Sure, it might just end up as somebody trying to scare us or somebody else. Who knows, maybe somebody really could use our help out there."

"Oh yeah, that just makes a whole lot of sense," Cloud said sarcastically with a frightened look on his face. "Somebody outside our room is in desperate need of help, so instead of screaming out 'Help!' like a normal person does, he opts to go for the more feminine route by screaming at the top of his lungs 'Ahhh!' That does not make any sense to me."

"Life is full of things that don't make sense," Adeus retorted with a roll of his eyes at his roommate's previous reply as he put on his boots with ease before heading for the door. "Anyway, I'm going to go and see what's going on out there. Are you coming or not?"

"Have you ever heard the expression, 'Curiosity killed the cat?'" the blond sighed as he, too, put on his boots with slightly quivering hands before meeting Adeus by the door, was busy trying to get it open with the control panel next to it. "This is one of those times I think we should just stay out of whatever's going on outside. I don't really have a good feeling about this, to be honest."

"Fine, then you can just stay here and play it safe while I play dangerously and take a look."

"Hey, I didn't say I was going to stay behind! I was just saying that I don't like this one bit."

"If you're going to come with me, then stop complaining about it and start moving, Strife. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? For all we know, someone could just be pulling an innocent prank on someone."

Still giving off a look of uncertainty, Cloud merely nodded his head, choosing to ignore how Adeus had used his last name in a way their commanding officer would do so. Arguing about what they thought was going on was bringing them nowhere. The only way they can figure out what that scream from earlier was about was to open their door and peek outside.

And that's exactly what they were about to do as Adeus pressed enter on the number pad and the door parted from the center and opened up, revealing the white walls of the cadets' barracks' hallway.

-Meanwhile-

"How much longer until I'm done with this piece of paperwork?" Zack whined out loud to himself as he continued to sit hunched over his desk with a pen in his hand, feeling like he was signing his life away with all the papers asking for his signature and stuff. "I've been working on these papers inside the folder Tseng gave me for two straight hours now. When he handed me the folder and said that there were only a few, I thought he meant three or four. Since when did a few constitute for twenty sheets in one folder? He must be living in a hell of a different world to call twenty sheets a few."

Putting his pen down for a short break, the spiky black haired 1st Class SOLDIER glanced at the manila folder that sat open on the edge of the wooden desk. Lying on top of it were two piles of paper. One had the text faced downwards; the other stood face up and showed some empty spaces on designated portions of the work. Apparently, the face-down ones were the ones that were already finished, whereas the others were ones that have yet to have been work on.

"Let me see," he mumbled as he started to visually count the papers that were in the face-down stack while thumbing through them. "I got fifteen done already, so I only have five more left to do, including the one I'm working on right now. Fifteen in two hours… It's probably going to take me another forty minutes to finish up the rest. I can't believe I have to write down full page reports on top of all this mumbo-jumbo. Oh well, I might as well take a break now. I'm going to need it since I'm really going to have a long night tonight."

With a small sigh, Zack got up from his computer chair and started to stretch a bit. He popped his shoulders a couple of times, grunting in content as he felt the unusual, yet relaxing, feel of it. Feeling his stomach growl a bit in hunger, he walked towards his kitchen in search of a late night snack. Just as he was about halfway there, a wall clock went off, prompting him to give a quick look at it before passing on through the kitchen doorway.

"Ten already, huh?" he wondered as he counted soft chimes of the clock. "I suppose that they're done with the assembly by now. Hojo might like to brag about all his stuff, but even he doesn't have the authority to hold the cadets past their curfew. Ah well, it's not I give a care about that anyway. I'd rather be doing work in here than listen to another one of his boring drabble. I swear, all that man wants from everybody in here is attention, recognition, and fame."

From the kitchen, he made his way to one of the cabinets above the counters and opened one. Without really looking at what was housed in there, he grabbed a bag of chips and leaned his lower back on the counter, quickly opening it and popping a few into his mouth.

_I wonder if Cloud and Adeus managed to sneak back to their rooms_? he thought as he continued to munch on the chips while leaning on the counter. _If I get in trouble with Angeal because of them getting caught, they're so going to get it from me. I don't blame them for leaving, though. Even they could tell the professor's speech was going to be boring. Maybe…_

However, his train of thought was rudely interrupted when he felt the phone in his pocket begin to vibrate. Giving out a small curse, he place the chips on the counter and began fishing around in his pants pockets. He mentally hoped that it was not a call from Lazard, the Director of SOLDIER, or some other higher-up like General Sephiroth calling him to go to work now. He definitely was not in the mood for any late night escapades, whether or not he was ordered to do so.

Once he got a hold of his cell, he breathed out a sigh of relief once he saw the caller ID. It was not from any of the higher-ups; rather, it was from his 2nd Class SOLDIER buddy that he had known since before he became a member of SOLDIER, Kunsel. With a smile, he flipped the phone opened and placed it by his ear.

"Hello, this is Za-," he started to say before he was forced to pull the phone away from his ear in record speed, his face scrunched up in surprise. So many noises were so loud that they were practically echoing against the kitchen walls. But what really made him pull away with such force was the sound of a terrified scream. It was a pretty manly scream, he will give it that, but it held the shrillness like that of a woman trying to break a wine glass or something. He also was not entirely sure, but the teen swore he heard the sound of gunshots and other sounds that would normally indicate a battle of sorts.

"Kunsel, are you alright?" Zack immediately asked as he all but shouted into the mouthpiece while still holding his phone at a distance. "What's going on over there? Answer me, Kunsel!"

All he received as an answer was another ear-shattering scream before the sound of what seemed to be the phone being knocked out of the other person's hand and falling to the floor. Another second later, the phone became quiet and gave off the sound that was interpreted in phone language as disconnected.

For a moment, all the teen could do was stand in shock as he dumbly closed the phone and placed it on top of the kitchen counter next to the bag of chips that was now long forgotten. He had plastered on his face a mixture of confusion and horror; he was not sure which emotion he should be relying on right now. That phone call was just too random for him to even begin to wonder what was going on.

…_W-was Kunsel watching a scary movie or something when he called me?_ he wondered, finally getting his brain to work and come up with some kind of plausible explanation as to what was going on at the other end. _Yeah, th-that's probably what he was doing. He probably just got scared and dropped his phone by accident and broke it somehow. At least, that's what I think happened. How do you break a phone by dropping it, though? He only has a television in his bedroom; and there's carpeting on the floor in there._

Unfortunately for him, he did not have any time to ponder over the question floating in his head, because another suddenly loud shriek pulled him out of his thoughts; this time, it sounded a lot louder and clearer than it was over the phone. In fact, it sounded a lot like it had came from just outside his SOLDIER-issue apartment, from the 1st Class SOLDIER hallways.

Without giving it another thought, Zack slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where his door was, all the while trying to listen to the loud noises. He was trying to separate the senseless yelling and gibberish from the actual talking that he managed to catch snippets of. It was terribly garbled up by both the walls, which vaguely came to his mind as being thinner than he thought them to be, and the panicked feeling put into each syllable.

"Help, somebody help me!" a man's terrified shouts reached his ears, seemingly passing through all the barriers that would have prevented its clarity from reaching him. "This thing's trying to… No! Stay away, you hear me? I said stay away! Stay away! Aaahhh…!"

Startled by the intensity of the bloodcurdling scream, Zack stopped short from placing his hands on the keypad beside his door. Figuring that whoever was screaming just now was not doing it for kicks, he decided to listen carefully through the thick door, a feat easily accomplished due to his exceptionally good hearing, even amongst his fellow 1st Class SOLDIERs. For a moment, he heard nothing. Then, he heard some kind of swift movement coming from the right side of the hall. However, it only lasted for a moment before it was eerily silent once more.

…_Okay,_ he said very slowly as he started to back away from the door. _Something…definitely doesn't seem right here. What was all that screaming just now about? What happened to that man? Maybe I should go outside and take a quick look. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Before I do that, though…_

With that thought in mind, he quickly turned around and started to walk towards the center of his room where a coffee table and a sofa were situated at. On top of the simple table was a sword; a big wide sword that was given to him by Angeal upon his succession to SOLDIER, 1st Class. It held a few similar characteristics to that of the older man's, but it was not considered to be a family heirloom of sorts like the one he always held on his back. He picked it up from its resting spot and placed it onto his back where a magnetic holster for it was located. He felt the blade hugging snuggly and securely against his back and nodded in acknowledgement.

"I guess I should bring this with me, too, just in case," he said as he also picked up a couple of stones that were right next to where the blade once rested, both green in color with faint misty white wisps on it, and placed them onto two slots that were present on his armlet. "You can't really have enough magic on you these days. Now I'm ready to go and see what all the commotion was about."

Once again, Zack made his way towards the door. Thankfully, he was still in full uniform when he first arrived at his room earlier in the evening, so he did not have to bother with any kind of formal wear. Before he pressed the command to open his door on the panel next to it, he made one last check to make sure he had everything on him.

"Sword…check," he mumbled as he made a mental checklist of the things he had and felt he might need. "Materia, one recovery and one elemental based…check. SOLDIER, 1st Class ID card…check. I am good to go," he confirmed with a smile.

Seeing that he had everything on him, he pressed the enter button and waited patiently for the door to open.

"Alright," he said excitedly in an attempt to pump himself us as the doors started to open. "Whatever's out there, you better prepare yourself for a beating because 1st Class SOLDIER Zack's on the job now!"

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Hello everybody! I hope you like this new and improved chapter of how everything started to go downhill. For those who remember my original, you should notice that I put in a couple more details and other stuff into that I previously never did before. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done. Until the next update, everybody!


	3. Stepping Through Hell's Door

Hello everybody. Thank you to all my readers of this story for being ever so patient for me to update this story. Although I already have the basis for this story, being that I'm simply just rewriting the original story, I still need to find time to perform the reconstruction. So sorry again for the long wait, but thank you for being patient with me

Anyway, until the next review everybody! Don't forget to leave a review after you read!

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* * *

Chapter 2: Stepping Through Hell's Front Door**

"So what do you think is going on outside?" Cloud asked as the door to the hallway opened completely and the two teens were greeted with a rather normal-looking hallway with freshly waxed floors and washed walls.

"For all I know, it could be just someone playing a huge prank on someone," Adeus replied with a shrug as he cautiously poked his head around the corner in order to survey their surroundings. "We won't find out, though, if we just stay sitting in here, now will we? So come on, let's go do some investigating!"

"You know, you sure act a lot like Zack from time to time," the blond said with a sigh as he saw the raven haired teen slowly walk out of the safety of their room and into the unknown lurking somewhere in the hallways. "It's starting to get kind of annoying here."

"Well, everything looks as normal as it could be," the teen said, oblivious to the comment Cloud had just made or choosing to completely ignore it. "I don't see anybody who looked like they were screaming."

"Actually, I don't see anybody out here period," Cloud said as he stubbornly exited their room and had a good look of the hallway himself. "They're probably still getting themselves bored out of their minds at the assembly."

"For all we know, that's where everybody could still be at right now. I don't think that should be much for us to worry about at this point, though. Anyway, you think we should keep going down this hall and see if we can figure out who our mysterious screamer really is?"

"Eh, might as well. At least it gives us something else to be doing while we're busy hiding out from the SOLDIERs and all those other people. Hell, I was starting to get bored of playing nothing but cards for two hours straight."

Without saying another word, the two friends proceeded to walk slowly down the hallway, both of them eager to figure out what that strange scream was about. Actually, Cloud was more nervous than eager. He still had that uneasy feeling from before and he just could not shake it off. He just told himself that this was all for curiosity's sake in order to keep the uneasiness from getting to him.

"Well, everything looks okay so far here," Adeus noted as they continued to cautiously walk towards a turn in the hallway. "Maybe we'll see something different on the next turn."

"Different as in the leftovers of a gag that was pulled by someone on someone?" the blond asked skeptically with raised eyebrows. "That is what you're leaning towards, I hope?"

"I don't think I could be leaning in any other direction here," the raven haired teen replied with a shrug as he hugged the wall right next to the turn. "Besides, even if it isn't stuff left over from a harmless gag, the worst we'd probably see is a person lying unconscious on the cold, hard floor. It definitely can't get any more out-of-hand than that, that's for sure."

"Uh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Adeus. I'm telling you; that scream we heard earlier sounded more like someone dying a terribly painful death rather than just being plain scared out of their wits, if you ask me."

"Oh, stop giving me all those gloomy and morbid thoughts, Cloud. It's starting to become depressing. I'm sure things aren't going to be as…bad…as…"

Adeus's sentence trailed off as he poked his head out to see the next part of the hallway. Suffice to say, whatever it was that he saw was so shocking, it practically shut him up, which was a surprise to Cloud because he knew that his roommate loved to talk nonstop. Curious as to what was so shocking; he decided to take a look for himself. It was at that moment that he regretted doing so.

What Adeus said earlier in a joking manner was somewhat correct. There was, indeed, a person lying on the floor. However, he looked anything but fainted. On the floor around him was a puddle of red liquid that Cloud construed to be blood. That and the crimson liquid's metallic scent came into contact with his nose, his face trapped in a gaze of absolute horror at the sight, and the eyes of the person were open wide with fear clearly being portrayed in eyes as dull as glass that has never been polished since the day it was created.

"Oh…my god…," the black haired teen whispered as he dared to approach the seemingly severely injured person. "This definitely doesn't seem like a joke. It looks and smells too real to be one!"

"Wh-what are you doing, Adeus?" Cloud asked, fear reverberating through his voice. "You're not trying to get closer to him, are you? What if this is just a part of the gag and they're just waiting for you to get close so they can practically scare you to death?"

"Well, someone's got to make sure if this is all real or not," Adeus replied as calmly as he could as he was now hovering over the person and crouching down next to him in order to better assess the situation. "And I think I'm better suited to do this more than you are right now. The more I look at this though, the more I feel like this isn't a joke. Let me see here and…, ah!"

"What is it?" the blond exclaimed as his legs started to carry him towards the body, despite his mental protests telling him not to.

"…This… This is real, alright," the other teen stated as he tried to catch and steady his breath, trying to keep calm after figuring out what he had just figured out. "Take a look at his neck and you'll see what I mean."

Against his better judgment, the blond followed his friend's instructions and looked at the neck. Actually, looking at what was left of it would have been a better description. The spot was so bloody; it was hard to really discern anything. However, a deep gash was plainly visible along with a few shards of bone and cartilages sticking out from it. It was practically a gory scene that looked like it was taken out of some kind of horror movie and made real before their very eyes.

"My…god…!" the blond whispered weakly as he immediately looked away, his stomach all of a sudden not feeling so well and acting queasy. "This just can't be real. It's way too intense to even be anywhere near real!"

"My thoughts exactly," Adeus nodded in agreement as he, too, turned away from the gruesome sight. "But there's no doubt about it; this is as real as you and me actually being here seeing all this… Let's hurry up and make our way back to the assembly room, Cloud."

"Th-the assembly room? Why do you want us to be going there, of all places, when we could potentially have a killer on the loose in here?"

"It's because we might have a psychotic killer on the loose in here that we need to get to the assembly room. If anything, we should at least try to warn everybody before someone else ends up dead, considering that it hasn't already happened."

"B-but what if the killer finds us first, Adeus? What are we supposed to do then? I really don't think that we're experienced enough to take care of him by ourselves."

"Well," the raven teen thought as his eyes suddenly went back to the dead body, "maybe we can try to take some shortcuts along the way. That way, we'll have less chances of running into the guy. Let me see what this poor sap had on him and see if there's anything we can use."

"You're going to be raiding his body for stuff that might be useful?" Cloud asked in disbelief as he watched his friend start to rummage through the dead man's clothes for signs of anything that they could use. "That just feels so wrong on so many different levels."

"Well, unless you have a better idea for me, don't start talking to me about moralities here," Adeus replied in a dead serious tone as he started to sift through the body. "In case you haven't noticed already, we don't have anything that we can even remotely call a weapon on us. All of the weapons are locked in the armory and we can't get to them without either being accompanied by at least a 2nd Class SOLDIER to do so or being a 2nd Class SOLDIER ourselves. If we're lucky, we might be able to get at least a gun from this man. Also, if he's a member of SOLDIER, then we'll be able to use his ID card to take a couple of shortcuts and get to the assembly room quicker. It just so happens that we are that lucky, cause look at the things I found on him."

Upon saying this, he pulled out two handguns from the body's belt area and threw one to Cloud who caught it with slight difficulty since he was not really paying much attention to it. Inside the coat pocket the person was wearing, he also pulled out an ID card that said "SOLDIER 2nd Class ID" on it. Thankfully, the card was laminated, so he just simply wiped away the blood that was splattered onto it with the clean part of the dead man's coat.

"Hmm, 'Jaron Thead: 2nd Class SOLDIER'," Cloud read over Adeus's shoulder, despite the look of annoyance the raven haired teen shot at him. "This guy was a 2nd Class SOLDIER?"

"Apparently so," the long haired cadet replied as he tucked the card away into his pocket and started to walk further down the hallway and towards the assembly room. "That just tells us one thing: Whoever took this guy down either was a SOLDIER 1st Class or the killer somehow took him by surprise and took care of things from there. And since we're just cadets with barely any training under our belts, we're really going to have to be careful from here lest we want to fall to the floor in a bloody heap and become this person's next pair of hapless victims."

"Oh, please don't say things like that, Adeus," the blond whimpered softly as he followed his friend and readied his gun for whatever was going to happen. "I'm already scared and nervous enough about this whole thing as it is. You talking like that isn't really helping things out, either."

"Look, let's just hurry up and get to the assembly room. The faster we get there, the sooner we can stop worrying about losing out lives to some crazed killer that's loose within the building."

"Oh, I hope you're right about that," the blond sighed as the two continued on down the hall in a cautious manner. "I just hope this whole situation doesn't become any more worse than it already is."

"Oh, come on, Cloud," the raven haired teen said in a joking tone, an attempt to lighten the mood. "What could be possibly even worse than having some random killer right under our noses inside this building? In my opinion, nothing can be any worse than this freakish murder we just saw."

"I really hope you're right on that thought, Adeus. Honest to Gaia, I hope you're right."

-Meanwhile-

"_What am I supposed to be looking for, besides a person who sounds like he just got himself killed by some kind of monster?_" Zack asked himself as he poked his head out of his room and looked cautiously up and down the rather empty hallway. "_I mean, if there really is a dead guy near here, then there's a serious breach of security or a real cocky backstabber in this place. I'm willing to bet my money on a breach of security, even though it sounds highly unlikely._"

Seeing that everything outside his immediate area was as normal as it could be, he quickly slipped out of his room and allowed the door to close shut behind him. He then contemplated on which direction he should start first, keeping in mind that anything could happen regardless of the direction he chose to go.

"Maybe I should start checking down the right side of this hallway," he said out loud in an attempt to make it sound like he was not alone as he started to walk in that direction. "After all, it was from somewhere there where I heard that loud bloodcurdling shriek that could practically wake the dead up. I swear that was probably sharp enough to destroy a window."

As he continued to mumble to himself, his legs naturally followed the path of the hallway without much thought or effort put into it. Soon, he came to a turn in the path and smoothly went around it, not bothering to even check if there was something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for him, there was something out of the ordinary waiting for him after the turn. He immediately froze in his tracks when he saw it and just stared in shock at the scene that was literally lying on the ground in front of him.

"What in Gaia…?" he exclaimed as he saw something he truly did not expect a few feet away from him, something that looked like a huge bunch of shredded clothes splashed with dark red coloring. "What in the world happened here? Is that…a body I'm looking at? I really can't tell, but…I think it is. Oh, boy…This is really not turning out well right now…"

From his position, he very slowly walked towards what he presumed to be a body, the figure so mangled and bloody it was hard to discern what it really was. Once he was close enough, he saw a tuft of brown hair stained with the crimson color of blood, thus confirming his suspicions on this being a person.

"I've…never seen anything like this," Zack said uneasily as he continued to stare at the body. "Even those that have died out in the field don't look as bad as this. This looks like somebody was tossing him around like a rag doll before getting angry with him and slashing at him with a knife. I can't really tell, but I think its death…through multiple slashes with a sword?"

From his initial assessment of the terribly mangled body, he noticed many cuts on the clothing practically reducing it to pitiful shreds. It was so shredded that he was barely able to recognize a Shinra-issue tie from the whole mess; the tie indicating that the dead person was one of the many executive workers of the Shinra Company that worked primarily on the upper floors of the building. The body itself was too bloody to really tell if the cuts were really that bad and how many there were, but he took a guess and figured that the slashes were plenty, seeing as there was such a big pool of blood surrounding the poor body, an amount that was completely abnormal unless multiple wounds were present on the body itself.

"_What in the world did this kind of damage to the poor guy_?" he sighed heavily from the shock and gruesomeness of the scene as he got up from his kneeling position. "_I don't think that a human would have been this brutal in their attack. We can tell if the person we attacked is dead or not. A monster, though, might continue to attack regardless since they tend to lack that kind of reasoning and acknowledgement. So if my hunch is correct and it really was a monster that did this, the question then would be where it is and what kind it might be. The next thing would then be to wonder how in the world it even managed to get into the building in the first place. The Shinra building has one of the top security systems guarding it from monsters ever coming inside. It doesn't make any sense._"

Shaking his head in both a sad an confused manner, the SOLDIER 1st Class started walking away from the body and further down the hall, refusing to turn his head back and stare at the body again. He was determined to find whatever it was that caused such a horrific death and put it out of their misery, regardless whether or not the perpetrator was monster or human. It was then that it dawned on him about the assembly that was going on and the possibility that whatever had done this could very well have made its way there.

"Some of the cadets and other SOLDIER members might still be in there!" he exclaimed as he started to make a mad dash towards the assembly room, hoping that the monster did not manage to make its way there and kill everybody in there. "I got to hurry there and warn them! I mean, I'm sure Angeal and the other 1st Class SOLDIERs can handle themselves well, but I really don't think that they would be able to protect everyone else that's in there. They're definitely not that good. If I can just get there, then maybe I can…"

However, his thought was cut short as he stopped dead in his tracks. Right in front of him were a few cadets that he recognized from the assembly room earlier. They were running towards him in apparent fright.

"_Oh, this doesn't sound good at all,_" he thought grimly as the cadets continued to run in his direction and soon slowing down as they approached him.

"A-are you a SOLDIER?" one of cadets asked, breathless from is run and as fear was laced into his panicked voice.

"Yeah, I am," Zack nodded as the three stopped right in front of him, all of them breathless and gasping for air. "What's going on here you guys? What are you three running from? Did you guys come from the assembly room?"

"Don't even think about going back there, sir!" a second one shouted as he began to run pass the raven haired teen and his two friends without so much as sparing a glance back after catching his breath. "Everybody's gone crazy in there! I don't know about you, but I'm going back to my room and staying there until this whole thing blows over! There's no way in hell you're going to make me leave there until those…things and that monster are dead!"

"H-hey, wait for us!" the third one shouted as he followed close behind the second cadet. "Don't just leave us here!"

"W-wait a minute!" the SOLDIER exclaimed as he quickly took hold of the first cadet's shoulders before he had a chance to catch up with his friends. "What 'things' are you talking about? What monster? Can you please tell me just what exactly is going on in the assembly room?"

"I don't know if you'll believe me on this, but something's gone wrong with everybody in the assembly!" the cadet quickly explained, clearly desperate to catch up with his friends and not wanting to be left behind. "Almost everybody that was in there just suddenly went crazy and started to bite everybody else. It was almost as if they were being possessed or something. Then, a huge ugly monster with large sickle-like arms busted through one of the doors and went on a slicing rampage! The three of us managed to get out of there, but I don't know about the others."

"B-biting each other?" Zack asked, letting go of the cadet in shock at what he had just heard. "You…you must be joking about that! People can't just suddenly decide to go crazy and participate on a biting spree while a monster suddenly decides to crash the party!"

"I'm not kidding, sir!" the cadet hastily replied as he made a mad dash to catch up to his friends. "I'm as serious about them and the monster just as I am about hiding out in my room until this whole thing blows over!"

"Wait, what about the other members of SOLDIER that were in the assembly with all of you?"

"They either escaped or were torn to shreds!" the cadet shouted just as he turned the corner and disappeared from view. "Don't go there if you know what's good for you!"

Zack would have yelled at the cadet to come back, but he was too shocked at the information he had just received. Even if he was well composed, he doubted that he would have listened anyway. He was way too scared to think of anything except what was already on his mind; running to his room and hiding.

"'_They either escaped or were torn to shreds?'_" he repeated the words dumbly. "_'They went crazy and started to bite each other?' That really doesn't sound good. I really hope that cadet was just kidding around with me. Although seeing how traumatized he looked and acted, I'd say it was anything but a joke. Oh, I hope Angeal's alright in there. I really hope it's not as bad as they made it out to be. Maybe I should just go there and see for myself how bad everything really is._"

Without giving it another thought, Zack started for the direction of the assembly room, the same direction that the three cadets previously came running from. Yes, his mind was on the wellbeing of his long-time mentor, but it was also on the safety of the others that were in there. What exactly was going on around here tonight? Why, according to the three cadets, did some of the people go insane and start attacking each other? Why was there a monster running loose within the Shinra Company building and killing people? All these things just were not adding up in his head nor did he think they ever will, or at least not until he managed to save those in the assembly room and figure out some answers from there.

"_I'm very sure the SOLDIERs, especially the 1__st__ Class members, can take care of themselves for now_," he thought as he concentrated on every step he took. "_I'm more worried about the cadets than any of the others. They hardly know anything that's related to combat. Even though only we SOLDIER 1__st__ Class members have the right to carry a weapon with us at all times, the 2__nd__ and 3__rd__ class at least have some hand-to-hand combat experience on them. Most of the cadets are only just starting to learn basic self-defense. Thank god I went the extra mile and taught Cloud and Adeus not only close combat, but also how to wield a gun._"

It was then he suddenly remembered the two cadets that he was assigned to mentor. He mentally sighed in relief as he remembered that they decided to ditch earlier that evening.

"_Thank Gaia they decided to sneak out of there when they did. I just hope they're still in their rooms and not wondering around. If they are, then Gaia help them remember the things I taught them._"

With that last worried thought, Zack focused all of his efforts in getting to the assembly room, hoping that whatever happened in there stayed in there, although he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that that was not how it was going to play out once he gets there.


End file.
